Returning to school proved costly for linebacker Beckwith

"Teams passing on me like that, it's great motivation ..." said linebacker Darry Beckwith, who signed with the Chargers as a free agent after being passed over in April's draft.
— Earnie Grafton / Earnie Grafton/Union-Tribune

"Teams passing on me like that, it's great motivation ..." said linebacker Darry Beckwith, who signed with the Chargers as a free agent after being passed over in April's draft.
— Earnie Grafton / Earnie Grafton/Union-Tribune

Chargers rookie linebacker Darry Beckwith could second-guess himself now, but what would be the point? It would be no more useful than tackling a running back after he's danced into the end zone.

After the 2007 college football season, Beckwith's professional prospects couldn't have been much higher. He was the heart-and-soul middle linebacker on the LSU team that beat Ohio State in the BCS title game.

In his first three years with the Tigers he'd enjoyed 34 wins, three bowl victories, an SEC championship and the crowning national title.

There seemed little more to accomplish, especially given scouts' projections that he could go as high as the second round in the NFL draft.

But out of loyalty to his school and a love for playing the college game, Beckwith stayed at LSU his senior year. His heart will probably still tell him it was the right move. In his brain he may wonder “what if?” for the rest of his life.

Beckwith suffered a second, more serious injury to cartilage in his left knee in the second game of the 2008 season. Though he missed only two games and recovered to play in the final nine in a disappointing 8-5 campaign, the word around the NFL was that he was damaged goods.

Originally projected as a possible third-or fourth-round pick in April's draft, Beckwith's prospects plummeted. His extended family gathered at his boyhood home in Baton Rouge, La., for the draft's second day, anticipating a joyous celebration at the first word he'd been picked.

Instead, everyone picked at their food and had to bear the uncomfortable silence as Beckwith was completely passed over, going undrafted.

“I don't want to say I felt like a failure, but ... ” Beckwith said Tuesday as he tried to pinpoint his emotions from that day. “It was one of the worst feelings you could possibly go through. Something that you put your blood and sweat into ... and you think you're going to be drafted.

“I tried not to think about the past: 'What if I left my junior year?' But you can't dwell on the past. The draft is over. A lot of guys won't remember where you were drafted. It's what you do right now.”

Beckwith said the Chargers called him in about the fifth round to tell him they were interested in signing him as a free agent. “It was kind of weird,” he said. But it was the only call he got all day.

The night of the draft, when he felt at his lowest, Beckwith received a text message from a guy he'd never met. It was Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, welcoming him into the team family.

“It meant a lot to me, coming from a guy of that magnitude,” Beckwith said. “That made me feel better.”